Would you do this? (about a CC)

[lullaby80]

So I have two credit cards, balances and the amounts I owe can be found in the siggy. Yesterday I realized the one with a bigger balance has a 20% apr (?) and the other 3%. Does it make sense to you to pay the minimum payments on the lower interest rate CC and pay high amount on the other? I had budgeted $200/month for CC payments. So I'd do a $37 (minimum)payment on the 3% and $163 on the other.

Seriously I'm such a dork when it comes to interest rates and such. So thats why I'm asking you, does my plan sound smart? Or should I just do $100 a month on each card like I had planned.

[3-boys-4-me]

This is what I would do:
I would transfer the balance on the 20% card to the 3% card. Then I would pay the full $200 to the one card.
If that's not an option for you. Pay as much as you can to the 20% card. You want to get that paid off ASAP. That's a lot of interest you're paying. Once that's knocked out of the way, then pay as much as you can to the 3% card.
Let us know what you decide.

[banana]

Can you call up the credit card co with the 20% interest and ask them to lower it? I have done this in the past and when they say no I ask to speak to a supervisor and most times it works! Also does the credit card that has the 3% interest offer any balance transfers for like 0% for a fixed amount of time? I would call them and find out, but make sure to ask if there are any fees involved and if so ask them to waive them.

[nuisance26]

~20% interest? ACK! Definately see if you can transfer it to your lower interest card. They often charge a fee for this but it's not 20%! If you can't do that, pay the minimum on the lower interest rate card and dump every available cent into wiping out that nasty 20% interest card. You've already shredded that card, right?~

[FrugalMomof3]

I agree with either trying to do a balance transfer from the 20% card to the 3% card then pay the entire $200 to the 1 CC, if that is not an option pay as much as you can to the 20% card and the min. payment to the 3% card.

Get that higher apr out of the way since it's eating most of the money.

[lullaby80]

Thanks guys! You are always so helpful! It was a shocker to see that I paid $40 in finance fees last month. I'll figure something out, you gave me some really nice tips!

[StellaS]

Before you transfer, are you sure the 3% card isn't an introductory rate? And if I remember right (do I?), transfering funds to another card is considered a cash advance - which is the WORST interest. Then what happens is the 26% (I've seen cash advances even higher than that!) for the tranferred rate is paid first (which, of course, barely budges, right?) and the 3% is a small fraction of the payment.

OK..that's confusing. Just realize you could make a bigger mess before you transfer, K?

If I were you, I'd take advantage of an (anotherother?) introductory offer to transfer at a very low rate, and do that with the higher rate card - and leave the lower rate card alone - just to be safe. I'd hate to mess up my current 3% deal.

[StellaS]

For some reason, I can't edit my typos. Sorry.

[lullaby80]

Well I ended up transferring $900 of that balance on the 20% card to the 3% card. I have that 3% interest rate on all balance transfers for the lifetime of that balance (or whatever) and there was no fee for the balance transfer. So, lets see what happens. I'll still try to pay off the higher interes rate card off asap and then snowball (?) the other one. I'm going to stop working in the end of this semester (yikes) so I only have a few months to make a big dent in those. But hooray for future SAHM/student!! I can't wait!!

[ama]

My Cap One went up to 40% interest...as I was paying it off. Phooey on them!! So I transferred it to 3% -- hence the siggy. CC's suck I tell ya and I wish I never owed a dime to any of them. Def transer to the lower interest rate or pay it off ASAP!

[Gracia]

Its better you tranfer your balance amount...